A Memorial Day Tribute . . .

Thank you to all the Soldiers who sacrificed their lives and bless the families who lost loved ones.

We set aside Memorial Day
Each and every year

To honor those who gave their lives

Defending what we hold dear.

In all the dark and deadly wars,

Their graves prove and remind us,

Our brave Americans gave their all

To put danger far behind us.

They made the ultimate sacrifice

Fighting for the American way;

We admire them and respect them
On every Memorial Day.

Emotions are running high . . .

Why do some days seem so much harder than others?
We are now at the end of month number eleven, he was suppose to be home in a few weeks but the date has now been pushed back, now he wont be home until July. It seems so far away. Today has been one of those days, where I find myself biting my lip and trying to hold back my tears. Every little thing seems to make me so emotional, seeing all the Americans flags flying at half mass sends me into a whorl wind of emotions. (I think my emotions are equivalent to those of a pregnant women, where anything and everything makes them filled with emotions. By the way I am not pregnant.) These days where I feel that at any moment I could just break down and cry, seem to go by so incredibly slow.

But the one thing that seems to break me out of this spell of sad and loneliness feelings is a phone call from my husband. As soon as I see his name show up on my phone, I am filled with excitement. He has away of making me feel so at ease and taking my mind off of all my emotions. He talks about our future together and where will be living when we move. He makes everything so light hearted and seems to know exactly what to say to make my day. 

Deployment and books . . .

So I just realized that throughout James' deployment, I have been able to get a lot of reading done. I am currently on book number five. I think I may need to make a trip to Barnes and Noble this weekend to find a couple new books. These books have definitely helped to keep me distracted as I wait for him to come home. Reading books may be a breeze for many, but I'm not the type of person who can just sit down and read a book in a day. Many of these books I started reading years ago and then never got around to finishing them, but this time around I was able to read them all the way through. Big accomplishments here for me.

So two of the books that I read during this deployment were books by Amy Tan. I have found her to be very captivating, she has a way with words and describes each scene and setting in a way that it comes alive. I have read all of her books except for one now, the last one being The Joy Luck Club. I have seen the movie it was emotional and sad, I'm not sure I would be able to get through it.

The other two books that I have read, have been Nicholas Sparks books. I don't know why I picked such emotional books to read, especially since my emotions have been so high with James being gone and all. But his way with words and how I find my self so sucked into the story line and not being able to put them down has got me hooked. I may just have to pick up another one of his emotionally strung novels. It all started when the movie Dear John came out, I picked up the book because the movie trailer intrigued me. I really wanted to read it before I saw the movie, but before I got the chance to start reading it my best friend talked me into seeing it with her, both of our husbands were deployed at the time. I knew going into the movie I was going to be balling my eyes out. But I found myself crying over the little things in the movie that reminded me of my husband and how it was when James left for deployment. It was a great movie but I couldn't stand Savannah's character and the fact that she would do that to John while he was deployed, I was just so disgusted with her. My husband asked me how I liked it, I told him how I felt and he laughed and said, "What did you expect the movie is titled 'Dear John'." So then I started reading the book and I was able to finish it on the plane ride home from Hawaii. When I was done, I sat there with my head on my sleeping husband's shoulder crying silently to myself, because at that point with all the emotions from the book, all I could think about was that I would soon have to say good bye to him once again. All in all I think if I would have read the book before hand, I don't think I would have even gone to see the movie, because Savannah was an even bigger bitch in the book than she was in the movie.

So on to The Last Song, I thought this was another great book, a little juvenile but still a great read. Before getting to the last couple chapters of the book, I thought it was odd that unlike his other books it hadn't gotten too emotional yet. But then he hits you with all of the tear jerker parts, I should have known it was coming. As a reader you could definitely taken in all the emotions that the main character Ronnie was going through. I do plan to netflix the movie of this book. But I have to admit I was fully disappointed when I IMDbed the movie to see who they had casted as the characters, some of them looked nothing like what I pictured them to look like. I think I can over look this though.

This next book that I've started reading is definitely nothing like the others, but I have founded it very stimulating. It was recommend by another military wife, so I thought I would read it because she had so many good things to say about it. It is a book sharing advise, support and reassurance to married couples in things that have come and what is to come in a marriage. So far so good... but now thinking about, maybe I'll wait til my husband comes home and see if he wants to read it together. We shall see...

A Little Bit About Us . . .

How did we meet?

We met through mutual friends of ours, a couple different times before we started talking. I thought he was younger than me so I wanted nothing to do with him at first, but then we started talking one night and then things went from there (of course once I found out that he was older than I thought). 

Was it love at first sight?

Not at first sight (I thought he was handsome though), but once I got to know him I realized he was the man I never knew I always wanted!

Favorite thing about him?

Hmmm... there are so many things. One of my favorite things is that there is never a dull moment with him, he is very exciting.

Most annoying thing about them?

That when we have dispute (not to be taken negatively) for the most part he is always right, but even when I know he's right I don't like to admit it.

What makes me love him so much?

Everything about him, there isn't just one thing he is very much the whole package. His personality is definitely one of the top things on the list.

How did I know he was the one?

I knew he was the one when I realized that I never had to be anything but myself around him, he never tried to change me or pressure me in any way. And he has always been the same amazing person that he was the night that we first started talking, he never put on a front. He is who he is from the very beginning, and I love him for that

Would I die for him?

Absolutely!

What is my favorite memory with him?

Oh there are so many memories that I cherish. One of them was sitting on Alki beach at midnight talking getting to know  each other... and he kept saying "all that jazz." Just thinking about that makes me smile. I noticed he was saying it but didn't say anything and then he caught him self... it was cute I think he was a little nervous.

Where was our first date?

Well there are many dates that I refer to as our first date, but I think our first date was a group date I invited him to the movies with some of my friends and afterword we went down to Alki beach by ourselves. Our first date by ourselves was the Tacoma water front. We went for a walk and then ate dinner overlooking the water. It was so much fun, I can still remember the conversations we had. Another exciting date was our third date, he took me shooting it was so fun!

Our first kiss?

He was dropping me off after a date and we were sitting in his jeep, it was one of those moments when we both knew it was going to happen, but I was a little nervous. It was sweet, it wasn't one of those crazy overrated ones.

Our wedding!!

It was perfect and I wouldn't have changed a thing about it. (Being a girl you always dream about what it would be like... walking down the aisle in some long white formal gown. Well it wasn't what I thought I would have, but it was the most beautiful thing ever.)

(The engagement) While he was home on R&R, we went to Alki beach the night before we were going to leave for Hawaii. I thought we were there because it had become a place that was really special for us, like our first date, the day before he deployed and now where we got engaged. As we were talking he got down on one knee told me how much he loved me and asked me to marry him, then from there it was all a blur... I remember him opening the ring box but I didn't even look at I was too happy and surprised to even care what it looked like. But he did an amazing job picking it out, it's my little disco ball on my finger.

(The wedding) So we decided to elope (with the blessings from our families) and get married in Hawaii. We got married on the beach bare foot in the sand at sunset. It was beautiful. I didn't have a long white dress, it was short summer dress, but definitely more my style. It was definitely a stress free wedding and everything seem to fall into place and work out perfectly.

When do we plan on having kids?

It depends on which one of us you ask I guess. After we got married this was one of the questions we got the most. He would answer within 2-3 years from now. Me on the other hand not ready, I know I am too selfish to have a child at the moment. I want my husband to myself, I want to be able to travel together and finish nursing school. I definitely don't want to be prego and have kids when we are in Hawaii, maybe his next duty station.

It's going to go by fast . . .

 So the count down begins for James to be home, then off to Ohio and then on to Hawaii. I know these next few months are going to go by so fast, we have so much that we have to do. But I'm very excited!!! I need my husband home so we can start our married life.


In the mean time I will fill my days looking for houses on craigslist to rent and dreaming of the furniture we will pick out, to keep my mind occupied. Along with going to school and working. I have to say that the first 8 months he was gone before coming home on R&R seemed to be going much faster than these last 3 months. There will be weeks when they will fly by but then there are days when every hour seems to go by so slow, its ridiculous.

So I have decided to start a blog because I know as things start to pick and James is home I wont have as much time to keep in contact with everyone that I want to. Also I thought this would be a fun way to keep a journal of my life and for those who are interested to keep up with the journey my life will be taking. And another way to get things off my mind....